London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

A couple whose baby died when he was just 25 hours old have accused the hospital he was born in of neglect.

A doctor ordered that Jack Reitano be monitored every two hours for breathing and heart problems — but nurses told his mother Melissa there was no cause for concern. They wrapped him in a blanket and left him to sleep next to Mrs Reitano, who awoke at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington to find him dead.

“It was an extraordinarily hot day, but they put him in swaddling and placed him on his side next to me,” said Mrs Reitano, 37, who spent four days in labour. “When I awoke he had passed.”

Copywriter Mrs Reitano, of Camden, added: “We couldn’t understand how the maternity ward could completely ignore the order from the doctor in the delivery room and why Jack was allowed to co-sleep with me. The nurses tried to resuscitate him but it was too late.”

Husband John, 37, an account executive, said: “I knew something was wrong by looking at Jack’s heart monitor during labour but staff assured me all was normal.” A post-mortem examination found Jack had a sudden unexpected early neonatal death last August. Last month Westminster’s coroner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.

Ian Christian, a partner with the couple’s lawyers Irwin Mitchell, said: “Midwives and doctors failed to tell Melissa and John about their concerns and midwives failed to read and act on simple instructions for Jack to be put in transitional care where he could have been monitored closely.”

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said: “A thorough investigation found some observations were not completed and this was reinforced with the midwife concerned. However, the Trust accepts the coroner’s finding that this did not in any way contribute to this tragic death.”